Scott Gottlieb

“But even against the backdrop of rising death and disease, and an especially cruel impact that the virus was having on Philadelphia’s poorest residents, the steps stirred anger and opposition. On one side of the debate, the Philadelphia Inquirer said the orders went too far, calling them a product of, and a currency for, the unfounded panic that accompanied the flu.”
― Scott Gottlieb, Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic

“Cases continued to surge. And yet many civic leaders would argue that the Spanish flu was driven by misguided fears and wasn’t that dangerous. In 1918, one of the most prominent of these individuals was Krusen, who would declare that the end of the pandemic was near and that the cases had reached a “crest.” Dr. John W. Croskey, president of the West Philadelphia Medical Association, similarly said that “the public should be educated to the fact that the disease is not as deadly as many believe it to be.” However, Croskey had grossly underestimated the severity of the flu, putting the case fatality rate—the percentage of people who developed symptoms of flu and would die from the disease—at about 0.5 percent, which was far less than its real fatality rate.”
― Scott Gottlieb, Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic